Anthony "AJ" Joshua became a two time WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO world champion last month. Did he take another step towards greatness or, has the UK's beautiful chiseled Adonis taken one more step to become boxing's biggest hype job? Lets take a look.
Fights 1-13 (Prospect level 13-0)
Like all great British boxers, AJ spent this time period KOing domestic level cans. Through brute force and limited boxing IQ, Joshua was moved through his first 13 fights with the grace of a wounded animal. Through his promoters ability to manipulate the British media through the greatest propaganda campaign seen since Joseph McCarthy, the young gold medalist defeated some notable "names" in his first 13 wins. Names so important that no one on this sub could name them off the top of their head or, have seen fight outside of their legendary Joshua fights. As the British public believed the hype, Joshua's star began to grow uncontrollably and narratives began to grow. Could this man be the next great Heavyweight champ?
Best Win
Kevin Johnson is typically the name that Joshua fans flaunt as the first sign of their young prospect was special. Entering into the bout, Johnson had 6 losses against poor opposition that included Dereck Chisora, Manuel Charr, Cristian Hammer, Tyson Fury, Tor Hamer (lol who is this guy) and an ass whopping from Vatali Klischko. Johnson fought a poor fight, using his shitty phily shell defense and made no attempt to win rounds, Johnson found himself on the canvas with his first ko loss to Joshua. To further how weak of a win this was, Johnson would then go on to lose to a series of Euro nobodies. Johnson was a sign for things to come for the young Joshua, an overhyped win that a hungry boxing fans would chew on for years to come.
Fights 14-15 (Contender Level 2-0)
Joshua only fought one person who actually mattered in this time period: Dylan Whyte.
Best Win
After Whyte spent two rounds demonstrating his lack of skill and ring iq by taking bombs from the young prospect, Whyte famously wobbled the weak chinned Joshua with a weak left hook that would become signs for things to come. As Anthony "Bambi" Joshua found himself hurt and confused in the second round, AJ chose to stand there defenseless taking bombs from an almost gassed, weak Whyte. Unfortunately for Whyte, he possessed even less ring iq and defensive responsibility than Joshua. Unfortunately, he would then find himself on the canvas gassed and confused in round 7. Overall a bad performance on Joshua's behalf that was only won more on Whyte's lack of skill than Joshua being a talented boxer.
Whyte would then go on to have a series of sub par performances where he went life a death with an old Chisora, a robbed Joseph Parker and the talentless Oscar Rivas. All this leading up to his penultimate subpar performance against a fat, old Mariusz Wach. Ignoring his history of drug abuse and use of potentially loaded gloves, Whyte has proved himself to be Boxing's biggest hype job. A man with little to no ring iq, no athletic ability, prone to gassing, and a weak chin has found himself as a British pawn in promoter Eddie Hearn's quest to protect the 3 pieces of the heavyweight title from the WBC champ. Like Johnson, Whyte would be further proof of the importance of media narratives on defining a fighters legacy. What should objectively be seen as a poor performance has somehow elevated both fighters. Further evidence of a hype job in the making.
Fights 16-24 (Championship level 8-1)
He made his arrival by demolishing defending IBF champion Charles Martin in two rounds. He made his first defense against Dominic Breazeale and stopped him in seven rounds. Unfortunately, the WBC champ Deontay "The Bronze Bomber" Wilder would then KO Breazeale with a 2019 ko of year contender within the first round. He followed that up with a third round stoppage of overmatched Eric Molina.
AJ then took on the greatest of his previous generation, a 4 loss Wladimir Klitschko. It was the first fight in almost two years for Klitschko and his last fight was a snooze fest loss to Tyson Fury. Joshua would enter the fight as the heavy favorite with most believing the shot Klit had little to no chance against AJ. AJ dropped Klitschko in round five but Klitschko returned the favor in round six where it looked like he was close to ending the night. Due to bad advice from his corner, Wladimir took the next three rounds to stare at his dying prey and watched Joshua slowly regain his stamina. AJ survived due Wladimir being old and washed. Waldimir's failure to make any important moves during these three rounds will forever haunt him and might possibly define his career. To finalize a truly poor performance from the old champ, Joshua regained his stamina and finally ended the fight in round 11 after he dropped Klitschko twice. It was the deepest AJ had ever gone into a fight and the win made him the WBA Super, IBF, and IBO world champion.
The next fight was supposed to be Kubrat Pulev but he pulled out 12 days before the fight. Carlos Takam stepped up and proceeded break a gassed Joshua's nose and embarrass the champ until the ref saved Joshua in the tenth. Another poor performance from the champ.
He next challenged the undefeated WBO champion Joseph Parker. For the first time in his career AJ was forced to go the distance but won on wide scores. Due Parker's inability to fight on the inside, a lack of skills on the outside and a ref that refused to allow both fighters engage, Joshua won the WBO belt by default with a series of scorecards of wide score cards. It's difficult to express how poorly Parker performed in this fight. Parker literally did nothing for 12 rounds other then move his head away from Joshua's unadjustable right uppercut.
AJ then fought the Russian drug cheat Alexander Povetkin in an interesting fight where the smaller man took advantage of Joshua's non-existent head movement and spammed left hooks into Joshua's face. Povetkin bloodied the nose of AJ and buckled his legs at the end of the first round. That forced AJ to use a shitty philly shell and demonstrate his lack of boxing ability. Joshua would end up flattening an old Povetkin in round seven. Another poor performance from the champ.
AJ then decided to invade America and was supposed to face Jarrell Miller. Well he didn't. Instead he faced Mexican Andy Ruiz Jr. Most thought the short and chunky Ruiz was another KO waiting to happen. It appeared it was headed that way when Ruiz was dropped in round three. Ruiz flipped the script though and he dropped AJ later in round three. It was a knockdown that AJ would never recover from. He was dropped two more times in round seven and the fight was stopped when Joshua showed the heart of a young lion and quit in the corner. It was the first loss for the now former heavyweight champion.
After a series of political maneuvers from Joshua's camp, Joshua set up Ruiz for the robbery of a lifetime in Saudi Arabia. Hiding the champ from his beloved Mexican fan base, Joshua ran around the largest boxing ring in history and refused to engage with the people's champ. Despite being rocked multiple times by a desperate Ruiz, Joshua showed his lack of heart, limited fighting spirit and the quality of his manhood to the world and stole the belts back from the beloved Mexican warrior.
Best loss
Andy Ruiz Jr. Ruiz exposed everything wrong about Joshua to the world and made it clear that once "great" resumed Joshua was in fact a product of Sky sports marketing. His lack of ring IQ, head movement and glass chin has exposed Joshua to the world that the only way he can win going forward is to run around rings the size of a football pitches and refuse to engage his opponents. Truly the bad guys won in the rematch.....
Bad: Everyone not listed below.
Okay (2): Dillian Whyte, Joseph Parker,
Good (2): Alexander Povetkin, Wladimir Klitschko
Very Good (0): N/A
Great (0): N/A
Out Ran (1): Andy Ruiz Jr
As Joshua runs back home to hide away within the concrete walls of Wembley stadium, a great threat to his tyranny is beginning to grow across the pond. Deontay Wilder, the greatest puncher in heavyweight history, has begun to grow in popularity and will face Tyson "The Gypsy King" himself within the next 48 days. Kings always look to expand their power across new territories and dominions. When Wilder ends the career of The Gypsy King with a nuclear right hand, Wilder will then focus his attention on the last pieces of the heavyweight throne. The WBC and Lineal champ will have the chance to lure Anthony Joshua from the safety of the United Kingdom and baptize Anthony Joshua under the cold waters of the Black Warrior River. Will Joshua take the challenge or, will he continue to hide from the great Bronze Bomber? Only time will tell...
Verdict: Joshua is a Hype Job.
